Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-10-28
THE SALOON.
The Temperance Question as
Viewed from a Financial
Standpoint.
What Rum Costs Honest Business Men
Some Facts to Ponder
Over.

Some Facts to Ponder
Over.
The dollar and cont standpoint is low
one Tor Judging great moral question;
Dut 1t 10 view of the case which is, after
al, most potent, says the Toledo Blade.
Men respond to touch upon the pocket
nerve more quickly than to any other.
Hence It is legitimate, in the warfare
against that fruitful parent OF vice and
crime, OF lewdness and debauchery. of
sorrow and misery. poverty and degrade
ton, to set in array the money cost Of the
rum traffic.
There are some things SO priceless that
no no money value can be assigned them.
They cannot be bought with gold. The
mother who stands by the cotfined form of
her dead son, brought low by rum. is be-
You'd comfort and consolation, for though
she may be wealthy, all her shining store
OF gold cannot restore the vital spark; can
not place that son, once her idol, the
center of bright hopes and fondest aspira-
tons, back on the parting of the ways,
when he took the wrong road, that has led
him to death. No wife can measure in
money the value of a husbands love and
care, of which she has been robbed by the
devil Of drink. No son, defrauded Of his
nlrthrlght through his fathers yielding to
the temptations of rum, no parent whose
child is treading the downward way, can
measure the irreparable loss, the shame.
the misery, by the standard of dollars and
cents.
Let us then leave the consideration of
the irreparable damage thus wrought bv
Rum, and turn to what NAV be called q
business view of the subject
Ihe average man lives, as O rule, pretty
close up to his income. If he earns 5000
year. he spends it all, or very nearly all.
If this annual amount is raised to ST 200.
his style of living improves; he has great
er variety of food, and of better quality; he
and his wife dress better; he lives in a
larger and more comfortable dwelling: he
has better carpets and furniture; he has
more books and pictures; in short, he en-
joys life better. And if his earnings 90 up
to $4,000, for instance, he will improve his
style OF living still further. There is not
one man in ten thousand, under the cir
cumstances named, who would live in the
narrow way he was compelled to do at the
commencement of his career.
With these men who are the slaves of
rum, the demands of the internal habit
compel style of living as narrow as is
compatible with keeping soul and body
together. The drinking man (if dependent
on his daily labor for support) has to live
IN poor quarters. The furniture is scanty:
of comforts in the household there are few,
and of elegancies none. The clothing Of
himself, his wife and family, is of the
poorest and cheapest. The food is stinted
in quantity, and Of the cheapest in quality.
All that he can possibly spare goes across
the counter of some rumhole, for the
devils drink which will temporarily as
suage the tormenting thirst of which it was
originally the cause.
From .bltion stops this waste Of his means,
ny crushing out these internal man. traps.
With Prohibition enforced properly, the
mouth OF this monster which devours the
wages of honest labor is closed forever.
The drinking man can go to his home
without meeting temptation dozen times
in traversing tue space between his place
of occupat. on and his home. He can put
in full weeks, for there is no temptation to
take holiday in order to go on debau.h.
His full wages are i'll his pocket on pay
day, for the saloon keeper no longer exists
to take the bulk thereof as h S toll.
What is the result? There is no reason
to theorize, for the experience OF Atlanta
tells the tale. The result of lifting the in
cubus OF supporting the saloon-keepers in
luxury from the shoulders of these men is
exactly the same as that stated above; the
same result is reached as if their incomes
were increased by the amount they for
merly spent for rum. They all live better.
they have better food, more abundant in
quantity and in greater variety. They
dress themselves, their wives and children
comfortably and decently. They live in
larger and better houses, which are better
furnished. These are now homes, in place
of cherries barracks. There are pictures
on the walls, books and papers on the table.
They enjoy life, instead of its being
burden.
What effect has this on every line of
legitimate business? The question an
swers itself. The money that once sup
ported the accursed saloons now goes to
support tn real business enterprises. The
butcher shops and groceries, the clothing
stores. the dry goods and millinery estab-
lishments. the furniture stores-in fact
every possible kind Of business house
which supplies the ordinary, legitimate
needs OF our civilization has its trade in
creased. This increases the demand on
the farmers, the manufacturers and all
who supply them with their goods. The
money is keptin the leg innate channels of
trade, and not poured into the bursting
Golfers of the rum power.
We have in mind town in Ohio of 5000
inhabitants. 1t has thirty saloons which
pay the Dow tax. Each of these saloons
has an average daily revenue of over $40.
Tn It is $500 day; and. as they are open
on Sundays, it is $2,1O0 q week, or, for
the entire year, 100000. 1t has the repu-
tation of being rather quiet, dull town.
Suppose that this $109,2UO was spent in
the stores and other establishments of the
town would not business "boom?" It is
more than the total business of the three
largest houses in the town. This is but
one instance; but suppose that we had
Prohibition in the entire State of Ohio.
in even as moderate basis as
that given above, what an enormous sum
would be added to the business of all the
legitimate trades Of the State! There
would be no stagnation then. Every
thing would hum. Our factories, our
establishments, would be
crowded with work. No fear of dull
times!
Business men, here is q state of things
to make you think. The saloon is the
greatest enemy to all Of you. The money
that they absorb would pass over your
were they crushed out. Yourtrade
would enlarge its borders. Each and every
Dne of you would prosper. Is it not time